Warriors bank on Barrett

Trent Barrett holds the key to Wigan's bid for a place in this year's Super League Grand Final. The Warriors made a confident start to their bid for a trip to Old Trafford with a 30-14 elimination play-off win over Bradford at Widnes's Stobart Stadium on Friday.

Scrum-half Thomas Leuluai, who scored one try and helped create another for Mark Calderwood, was named man of the match, but was quick to praise his half-back partner, who is returning to Australia next year, for his contribution to Wigan's end-of-season revival.

'Trent is a class player,' Leuluai said. 'It's easy to play with someone that good. We're going to miss him; any club would miss someone like that. He's already left a legacy. He's played some special football in the two years he's been here and helped the youngsters come on too.

'I'm just enjoying playing with him. You know you've got to relish these last opportunities. As a group, we just want to play well for each other until the end of the year.' Winger Calderwood and hooker Mickey Higham are other players hoping to bow out of Wigan with a Grand Final appearance.

Wigan overturned the odds a year ago by reaching the final eliminator after finishing in sixth place, but Leuluai is refusing to make any bold predictions of a repeat. 'We're quietly confident. We've got to do what we've been doing in the last few weeks to get the results. We're not going to get ahead of ourselves.'

Iestyn Harris will decide in the next seven days whether or not to hang up his boots. The 32-year-old former Warrington and Leeds stand-off is out of contract at Bradford and yesterday confirmed that the defeat at Wigan was his last appearance for the Bulls.

The former Wales and Great Britain international has been linked with a move to Super League new boys Celtic Crusaders and is thought to have been offered a playing role with National League One club Featherstone under new coach Daryl Powell - but he is also keen to get into coaching.

Harris was recently appointed to the backroom staff of Wales under new head coach John Dixon and has been linked with the post of assistant coach at Warrington. 'I'm going to decide my future over the next seven days,' he said. 'I have a few irons in the fire and I'm going to decide whether I'm going to play or not. I feel really sharp. I've played a lot off the bench this year, which is disappointing. It's one of those things.'

Harris took his points tally for Bradford to 382 with a conversion in the Wigan game, which was his 132nd appearance for the club. In all, he has scored 2,526 points from 399 club and international appearances. The former Leeds captain admitted that the defeat by Bradford was a disappointing way to end his three-and-half-year spell with the club. 'We're bitterly disappointed,' he said. 'It was a poor performance from us. We've been inconsistent in games, with people trying to win the game every time we've had the ball.'

Friday's game also marked the farewell appearances of prop Joe Vagana, who has retired, and three-quarter James Evans, who is moving to Castleford, while second-rower Simon Finnigan is thought to be joining Huddersfield.